Clinical supervision as a strategy for educator development

M.Ed. (Educational Management)This research has shown that developing educators who can compete locally and globally within the education sector is to a large extent the responsibility of school principals. The research further shows that educators can be developed effectively through the use of clinical supervision. Clinical supervision in this research is viewed as a strategy to improve the knowledge base, teaching skills and competencies of educators. Furthermore, the research reveals that in today's competitive environment, continuous educator development is key to enhancing the quality of education and classroom practice. One of the major challenges facing school principals today is to continually create and maintain contexts for effective teaching and learning. New demands for survival include the ability to provide better education, accessibility to learnership regardless of the diminishing essential resources. The background, aims, and research methods are provided in chapter one. The qualitative research approach was employed in the investigation of clinical supervision as a strategy to develop educators in the school. The literature search revealed that the principal as the supervisor can use different methods to develop educators. However, clinical supervision was identified as the most effective way of assisting educators to grapple with their day-today actions in the classroom. The data was collected and analysed using the constant comparative method. Focus group interviews were conducted with two groups of educators and individual interviews with two principals of senior secondary schools, in Mantserre Circuit in the Rustenburg District of Education, North West Province. The research revealed that some principals are not aware of clinical supervision as a strategy to assist educators with lesson preparation and effective teaching. In all schools that the researcher conducted interviews, the concept was strange. On the other hand, the research revealed that educators expected their principals to guide them with the execution of their work..